I have never wanted to strangle someone like I wanted to tonite. First of all, me, dh, ds, my dad and his girlfriend went to the mall in Hattiesburg (a local city near us) tonite and when we walked out of the mall you could hear a child SCREAMING, I thought oh no there must be someone getting a spanking. Well we continued to walk until we could see and there was a little boy with the drivers side door open standing up crying his eyes out. Well we go over to the little boy and my dads girlfriend picks him up ( he is in there by HIMSELF and only 4 years old). Poor baby can't hardly breathe by this point, he grabs my hand and his little finger nails are just digging into my fingers he is so scared, anyway we flag down a security guard and he comes over then the sheriff comes and finally the Hattiesburg Police make it there and the lady still hasn't showed up, but this time it has been about 15 minutes. Well when she came out she had 3 bags and was very upset that we were all there (the nerve)!! She said that she had only been in there for about 10 minutes and I chimed in and said oh no we have been out here for 15 minutes.. (that's me always chiming in LOL) Well, she tried to leave and the officer told her he said mam don't you know that it is against the law in this state to leave your child in the car alone? and she said well I was only gone for a few minutes!! UUGGGGHHHHH thick skull. The whole time I would just love to claw her eyeballs out.. And the worst part about it is that the little boy showed us which door she went in, so she left him crying.. Anyway when we left the policeman was getting her out of the car, I don't know if they took her to jail or not, there is just NO excuse in my book to leave a child in a vehicle, he could have been kidnapped or ran over since he did have the door open and new which door she went in, I'm sure his next move was to get out and go look for her.. I just needed to vent!! What are some people thinking?? Thanks Ladies!!

By Dana on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 11:36 pm:

EERRRRRRRRG. I'm mad just reading your post. I can't even imagine!

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 11:40 pm:

Double EERRRRRRRRRRRRRRGG!! I'm so glad you found that child and reported it!

By Insaneusmcwife on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 11:44 pm:

I hope she did go to jail. I hope she gets a huge fine and has to go to a lot of mandatory parenting classes before she is allowed to have her child back, if she is allowed to have him back. People like that don't deserve to have kids. JMHO.

By Annie2 on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 11:46 pm:

That poor baby! I wouldn't want to be left alone in a parking lot these days....never mind being a 4 year old left alone.
I agree...EEEERRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG!!

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, January 31, 2004 - 11:59 pm:

Poor little guy! I hate hysterical, barely can breathe, sort of cries. 4 is way too young.

By Newbabysarah on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 11:50 am:

Wow, if it was me who found him it would have been VERY difficult for me not to clock her. That's just NOT ACCEPTABLE no matter what her excuse was.

By Bellajoe on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 11:53 am:

WOW what an idiot! Some people should NOT be parents! I would never leave my kid alone in the car to go in and pay for gasoline! Let alone go into the mall! Kasey, do you live somewhere where it is cold and snowy right now? If you do, he could have frozen! The poor thing.

That makes me so mad!

By Kaseys on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 12:09 pm:

Patti, we live in MS so luckily it doesn't get too cold but when we found him it was around 55 but it was windy which made it colder. She had his jacket on him and a hood so she must have had it planned, atleast he was warm..

I forgot to add, there was NO carseat in the vehicle.. So she was in double trouble..

By Conni on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 12:25 pm:

Kasey,

I am so glad you were the ones to find the child and help him!!! ohhhhh the 'whatif's' going thru my head right now.

I am dumbfounded by this post. How can you be that careless with your own child? Makes me cringe inside.

On another note: Yesterday my dh was checking out at the store and he said 2 teens with 2 baskets FULL of stuff (had it all in mesh looking bags he said) ran out the doors!!! The alarms went off and he said he was in the middle of swiping his card etc... and just didnt know what to do. LOL He was shocked to see a theft like that.

THEN!!! Get this, at 7 am this morning dh and I were sitting at the kitchen table having coffee and pancakes enjoying the quiet. We suddenly hear this LOUD banging/hammering noise. DH looks out the backdoor and some kid with a sledgehammer is trying to break into the coke machine that sits in front of the little country store!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhh Again dh is SHOCKED and he hollers at the kid 'THE COPS ARE ON THE WAY'. I have never seen someone run so fast with a sledgehammmer. lol He jumped in his truck and peeled out of the parking lot.

Lovely weekend of crime fighting eh Kasey?

I was telling dh that something is WRONG with people today. They have NO FEAR and that is scary.

By Babysitbarb on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 12:57 pm:

People like this do not deserve to have children. My girls are 14 and 11 and I would not leave them in the car alone at their age. There are to many crazy's around to do something like this. Im glad it's wasn't me who found him because that lady would have gotten a little scare of her own. How horrible,what is this world coming to.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 03:23 pm:

NO CAR SEAT EITHER?!?! I hope she gets charged on both counts. Let us know if you hear anything.

By Bobbie on Sunday, February 1, 2004 - 09:09 pm:

One thing I can tell you for sure. IF the police are called to a situation with children involved they have to contact the CPS/DHS and file a report. She will be investigated.

By Trisa on Monday, February 2, 2004 - 08:36 am:

Poor little thing.
why are some people allowed to be mothers???

By Wandilu on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 - 10:54 am:

that poor child will have nightmares about that day for a long,long time !!!there is absolutely NO reason or excuse for what she did !!!and the fear that she instilled in him ,and the feeling of abandonment will probably never truelly go away.all of this so SHE could go SHOPPING !!!

By Laurazee on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 - 09:03 pm:

I'm horrified - that's terrible!

Got another one for you: just heard it on the news today. A 5-year-old boy called 911 in Coquitlam because he woke up at 2am from a nightmare and went looking for his Mom. She was nowhere to be found. He looked in the driveway and saw her car was gone! Then he called 911... (they know how to do this at 5?)...apparently, the police found her at a nearby pub (with her car, another BAD idea).

Here's the story: (grr!) Mommy Abandonment Story

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 - 09:28 pm:

That is awful. I wonder if the mom got charged with anything.
Laura, that story you shared is also horrible. What are these mothers thinking? Ugghh.

BTW, my DD is 5 and she knows how to call 911